Author of Hidden Behind the Robe and Special Directives
Matt Graham
Matt Graham is a native son of the San Fernando Valley. He attended California State University, Northridge, and Loyola School of Law before his ten-year career as a state prosecutor. His unlikely rise to the Los Angeles County Superior Court and later to the California Court of Appeal was shaped by a work ethic beginning as a boy growing up in Van Nuys.
By the age of 30, Graham successfully argued cases as a prosecutor in the California and the United States Supreme Court. Graham presided over approximately two hundred felony jury trials between 1985 and 2005. He authored over one thousand appellate decisions as a justice on the Court of Appeal.
Hidden Behind the Robe, Graham's first novel, is based on the stranger-than-fiction cases and events witnessed during his legal career. The award-winning and critically acclaimed Hidden Behind the Robe: A Courthouse Thriller, has a 4.6-star rating on Amazon.
Special Directives is the second novel in Graham's Van Nuys Courthouse House Legal Thriller Series. A progressive District Attorney is elected in Los Angeles, with controversial policies about the treatment of juvenile felons. The DA secures the prison release of a rapist who had been convicted as a juvenile. What could go wrong? Just about everything. With careers on the line and victims outraged, the supervising judge at the courthouse faces hard choices about how to address the DA's policies.
Comments or questions for Matt? Email him at mattgrahambooks@gmail.com
Matt Graham is a native son of the San Fernando Valley. He attended California State University, Northridge, and Loyola School of Law before his ten-year career as a state prosecutor. His unlikely rise to the Los Angeles County Superior Court and later to the California Court of Appeal was shaped by a work ethic beginning as a boy growing up in Van Nuys.
By the age of 30, Graham successfully argued cases as a prosecutor in the California and...
The voters in Los Angeles County elect a progressive District Attorney, who issues a series of special directives outlining his policies for reducing prison sentences and granting leniency to all juvenile offenders. Early in his term, the DA convinces an unwitting judge to release a serial rapist, setting in motion a crime spree that law...
Hidden Behind the Robe is a tapestry of stranger-than-fiction scenes observed over Matt Graham’s forty-three year career in the criminal justice system. The story traverses the unexplored and overlooked inner workings of the raunchy, salacious, often hilarious, behind the scenes happenings of Los Angeles justice while taking you on a tour of...
In conjunction with the launch of Special Directives by Matt Graham, the price of Hidden Behind the Robe on Kindle has dropped to $2.99. Take advantage of the low price on Matt...
"I think the thing I like most about this book is the inside view we get of what happens in a judge's chambers and how a courthouse works both when it's in session and when...
One of the themes of Special Directives is that convicted defendants continue to return to the trial court asking for relief from their lengthy sentences. Pearl Sinthia Fernandez is another example of this judicial merry-go-round.
Fernandez pled guilty in 2018 to the first-degree murder of her 8-year-old son who was the victim of inhuman child abuse. I will spare you the details, but the abuse was horrific. Fernandez was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
"An attorney for 43 years (a deputy public defender for 4 years and a career prosecutor for 31 years) I enjoyed reading this well written novel. An easy read that flows and builds and doesn’t disappoint. I think it accurately and plausibly captures the reality of the job of a judge and does so with wit, suspense, drama, and insight. I sincerely recommend it and I’m confident you won’t be disappointed. In fact, I...
We have replaced the original cover of Special Directives. Sales are brisk, ratings are good, and the results warrant a flashier cover.59i4uf5y9oaeqt6b5eibbon3sogm1 MB
